The Only Evil Fiction Catholic's should avoid

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patrick457 said:
Given how much of a devout Catholic Tolkien was, I think he would have been sore displeased with the “Christ is dead, Frodo lives” graffiti.
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Oh, definitely.

Just goes to show you how irrational those who denounced Tolkien’s work for promoting the occult were.
 
I’d have to Google the article, but there was an incident a few years back where some really wacky fundamentalist/Bible Christian church publicly burned copies of The Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings. Wish I was making that one up.
 
this is why I don’t read. I just wait for the movies. Lol (J/K) 😛

As a Catholic, I don’t see anything wrong with Harry Potter other than I was let down by book 7.

Unlike the Golden Compass which allegedly had anti-religious sentiments (I say allegedly, because I’ve never read it, never saw the movie either. Just read about the controversy in the news when the movie was released)… Harry Potter was not inherently pro or anti religion. It was merely a religiously neutral work of fiction about the age old battle between good and evil, unlikely friendships, and the strength to overcome.
 
I read the Golden Compass, and it wasn’t just anti-religious, it was virulently anti-Catholic. Every single villain in that story was a villain because they were a Roman Catholic. The Magesterium was set up as an evil group of wicked men who experimented on children. Mrs. Coulter only became good because she cut ties with the Church, and one of the heroines considered the high point of her life to be the time when she stopped being a nun. And of course, it contains heresies such as claiming that Gad didn’t create the world, and having them kill God off in the end. I was pretty ticked off when I discovered the leader of the “good angels” was supposed to be Satan. It’s a pretty bad book, by Catholic standards. I personally find Stephen King’s work to be rather disturbing, and wouldn’t like my little sisters reading them. The Hunger Games were nice, but I didn’t read the first one, and I think that’s where all the violence and such was. I personally disliked Twilight because it seemed a bit silly. Why did she have to pick either of them? And she clearly only wanted Edward for his money and good looks. The reasons she gave for loving him were the reasons my friends give for loving their dogs. :rolleyes:
 
I never read twilight, just saw the first movie. The second I saw a vampire sparkle like a glitter egg… I was done. Lol
 
I think there is a difference between “evil” fiction and stories that don’t blatantly discuss God or consider him in the world that is created. To be considered evil, I believe there needs to be an attempt on the writer’s part to guide the readers away from God or His truth. Most works of fiction that resonate with readers reveal God’s truth, just perhaps in a way that they may not recognize.

For example:
Biblelove13 said:
Although I haven’t read Twilight, I’ve seen 3 of the movies, and I can definitely see how some parts of them are evil. For me the thing about Twilight I like is the idea of having something forever, but the problem is Bella’s ‘forever something’ isn’t God. Jesus says in Mark 12:25 that you aren’t going to be married in the afterlife, so to me, Bella needs to focus on God and not on Edward.
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This is a very interesting point - and a very good one. Bella (and Edward) should be focusing on God first, God should be her priority. But we are looking at something through the lens of fiction. In the world that the author created, God wasn’t explicitly present. He was discussed vaguely in the books - not the really the movies - but throughout the series what was discussed and seen was doing the right or selfless thing over selfishness and what came easy. Does that sound evil?

After reading the books, I realized it was one of the first fictional examples of selfless love I had seen, especially within a romantic relationship. We see two people who love each other so much that they are willing to die before putting the other person in pain. That’s not evil - it’s just incomplete. We are supposed to love our spouses selflessly, but, as Catholics, we know you should love God should more than you love your spouse. Just because an author didn’t create their world they way God created his doesn’t mean it is evil. An author can only create a world out of what they know themselves.
 
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JNdoum:
I read the Golden Compass, and it wasn’t just anti-religious, it was virulently anti-Catholic. Every single villain in that story was a villain because they were a Roman Catholic. The Magesterium was set up as an evil group of wicked men who experimented on children. Mrs. Coulter only became good because she cut ties with the Church, and one of the heroines considered the high point of her life to be the time when she stopped being a nun. And of course, it contains heresies such as claiming that Gad didn’t create the world, and having them kill God off in the end. I was pretty ticked off when I discovered the leader of the “good angels” was supposed to be Satan. It’s a pretty bad book, by Catholic standards.
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I think that was always the point, Pullman is unapologetically anti-theist; the Catholic Church especially. While the first book is alright, the second two are pretty poor and I was finding it hard to swallow a lot of his bull$h1t. The church certainly has some problems, and the books highlight this. But once it becomes a straw-man, I loose interest.

As relates to the theme of this thread, I would like to add Nicholas Sparks to the list. The guy is a d0uche-bag and his stories are poison to the ears.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
shudders Sparkling vampires… now THAT is an abomination.
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My husband laughs every time a commercial for one of the movies comes on, because he knows I’m going to start in on “vampires don’t SPARKLE!”
 
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